Climbing Falling
by Kamaete
Summary: Small drabble from Sasuke's point of view. 'I fell faster when I thought I was climbing,'


**.: **Climbing **:: **Falling **:.**

by BlackFireXD13

**[AN:: Warnings: **uhm, no warnings... u.u I think...

**Note: **Epically fails in the beginning... yeah, gets better at the ending part... It's almost a new style for me, uhm... yeah.

**Word:: 1,261]**

"I'm not hungry! Nope! Not. At. All!" _Grrroooooowwwllll…_

"Here." A bento box shoved to the side.

"Really!? But what about--"

"It doesn't matter, he's probably long gone anyways… besides, if I'm going to get those bells, I can't have you hindering me."

_And you said thank you. Though you were focused on Sakura feeding you, and practically ignored my bento. That was my first effort to climb the steep walls of canyon separating us. It was subconscious and a feeble attempt. And I screwed it up by being an arrogant ass. I stumbled. But I didn't ask for help. You wanted me to do it on my own._

"Uh-ahhh! Kakashi-sensei!"

"Naruto! Move!" A flash of movement. The two were now pinned. Tied up.

"Are you alright? Bibiri-kun?"

"Teme! Urusai!"

_My second attempt. A little more conscious, but not really. All that I managed out of it, was pushing you to go further than I. Traveling further, higher, away from me. Leaving me behind, though I didn't know it yet. Again with the arrogance, the taunting, the teasing. I was farther from you then before. Still, I didn't want to ask for help. I didn't know how._

"Sasuke, lend me your ear. I have a plan."

"So you're talking of teamwork?" Clones, and the Fuma Shuriken was spun.

"So that's you plan! That's pretty good for you!"

"Ha! I wasn't aiming for you!"

_Teamwork… It was another step towards me finding that path you were on. You were always on. Slowly, I was able to climb that steep cliff, to close the distance between us. You weren't that annoying idiot I pegged you as the first time I saw you. Now, you were some one worthy of my scope of sight. You were someone worthy of being counted as a comrade… Unbeknownst to me, I slipped again. _

"I will beat you, dattebayo!"

"Whatever, usurotonkachi." Chakra, running, after exhausting contests… finally.

"Well, we made it to the top,"

"Yeah, heh heh heh heh heh."

_God, so much closer. I think… I think that's the first time I noticed you. Like _noticed_ you. You say it was in the chunin exams, but it was here. When I accepted the tie and laughed--internally--with you. It was a fine start. I could look back now and see, just _see_ that I was thatclose to sidling beside you on that noble path of yours. I could have made it. On my own._

"Sa-Sasuke? W-why?"

"I don't know… My body just moved, usurotonkachi." Falling, limply, fire spreading…

"B-but, I didn't ask you to save me!"

"Na--ruto… don't… don't let your dream die…"

_Because if you did, then this would have all been for nothing. You forgot about that, didn't you, Naruto? So high on that path… you forgot to keep your dream. No, not the one about being Hokage, not the one about becoming respected and acknowledged. It's your _dream_. But, being so high up there…. How does it feel? How does it feel to have people sacrifice for you? I was sure I saw it then… but… _

"Naruto?!"

"You're not Sasuke! Sasuke wouldn't act like this!" Blood, red eyes… the makings of a demon…

"Are you alright? You bibiri-kun!"

"Hn…?"

_I fell, again… And you seemed so disappointed, I had to drag myself back up… It hurt, it was terrifying. And yet, I couldn't let you surpass me. You were, sometimes still are, an usurotonkachi. I couldn't let you beat me, I was becoming weak! Weak! Nothing would ever happen if I couldn't become stronger than you! I fell so much faster when I thought I was climbing._

"What?"

"You're one of the ones I want to fight," A smirk, a blinding, slow smile.

"Me too. I want to fight you too, 'tebayo!"

"Hn,"

_I was so close. Always reaching, always grasping. I could make it, I could. Just a bit more, I kept thinking. You were getting stronger, with your training, and your struggling. You were fast approaching that pedestal that everyone insisted I stand upon. The place where everyone noticed you, talked to you, praised you. The place that kept me so far away from you._

"Sasuke!"

"Go, take Sakura and keep her alive, I've still got energy to fight him!" Desperation, and burning…

"Sasuke… Stand back! This is my turn to help you!"

"Naruto…!"

_Why is it, that watching you fight… it's almost entrancing. Not that I got very much of it… me who was laying on his side. The pain from the one thing that gave me power to much for me to handle. How you never noticed it is beyond me. Sometimes you really are an usurotonkachi. Sometimes you aren't one. Like then, when you took him on. Fought to a stalemate. Better then I could ever do…!_

"Sasuke…? No…"

"No one is killing this man unless it's me!" Birds screaming, burning, blue light flickering.

"Sasuke--!"

"Hck…AAAAaaaaRgh!"

_That man. I hate that man. He never lets me live in peace. He always arrives just when I'm happiest. Just when I was getting back to normal. He shows up and reminds me, always reminds me that I'm forever caught in a web of vicious hate and revenge. And it has become revenge. The way I was… The way I am now. It's no longer vengeance. It can't be, anymore._

"Why aren't you wearing your headband?"

"Why? It's not like you'll ever hit me there, usurotonkachi," Cocky stance, smirking.

"Ha, ha-hah-ha-he-hah!"

"Why are you laughing?"

_Never, never have I been more stupid. More idiotic, then that moment. Starting a fight on the hospital roof? What was I thinking? To prove I was stronger. To prove I could still do it. I can't do anything to change it, but damnit, I almost wish I could. The back of your water tower exploded. It was decimated beyond what I could ever hope to do with Chidori. It was beyond me. Just like you always are._

"Sasuke! Am I really that insignificant to you?!"

"It's not insignificant. You're my… closest friend," Not mention only…

"…Rasengan!

"…Chidori!"

_Kill him, kill him. Kill him and beat Itachi. Beat Itachi and have your revenge. Have your revenge and… Then what? Then what exactly? That small question was enough for me to falter. Just minutely. Itachi is always in my mind. He is always there, he's always telling me what to do. Whether it's to stand this way, to run, to hide, to kill. He is the force pulling me down, away._

___Everything. Everywhere. Every time.

__I keep climbing, and I fall. I jump. I am torn away.

_It's a continuous cycle, it will never end. I will never reach you.

It's not a choice I have to make anymore.

It's painfully obvious to me.

I just have to stop trying.

I'll stop trying, and then, maybe, once the dust settles, and buildings stop cracking. When the fire is put out by the rain, and the rain dies out as well… Maybe then the path will be clear. And maybe then you'll be there, and you'll help me? Help me climb up the gentle slope, and pick around the steep and loose rocks I was trying to climb myself? Maybe you can help support me as I do a quick katon jutsu to dry up the mud in our path? And then you can do shadow clones to help pull ourselves up the steeper parts. And maybe we could do chidori and rasengan together to blow apart those boulders in our way?

Maybe I can ask for help, then?

Neh, Naruto?


End file.
